For this poetry activity, you will need at least one photograph in nature. Follow the steps below to complete the activity.
Step 1:
Think of a personal experience you or someone you know has been through, whether positive or negative. Think of life’s events like achievement of or failure to achieve goals, acceptance or rejection, personal connections and break-ups, enjoyment of your surroundings, a longing for simpler times, self-discovery, etc. List the specific event, and write details about it.
Step 2:
Next, write the myriad of emotions that accompanied that event. Be specific, and explain using words that carry more weight than sad, happy, excited, or shocked. Really get creative with your adjectives.
Step 3:
Now look at your photo of nature. Make a list of all of the colors in the photo, what time of day it is, what season, what is pictured, etc. Visually write about the details of your photo. These are the particulars of the photo that will help you create extended metaphors of your personal life experiences. Write the symbols next to those descriptions. For example, the color red symbolizes anger, misunderstanding, desire, energy, force, agression or love. The winter season usually signifies the end of life or an experience, the deadening of the spirit or heart.
Step 4
Link what emotion you felt to the color, season, or objects in the picture. Match your lists from Steps 1 and 2 to the colors and natural descriptions in Step 3. On your paper, write the emotion, and then explain how your description of nature is symbolically represented by the scene. For example, in Step 1, I listed the death of my family’s dog. In Step 2, I listed emotions like complete emptiness, void that cannot be replaced, and eternal sadness as well as a bittersweet memory when I hear a dog barking. In Step 3, my Autumn scene is described as lifeless trees, bare branches except for the few sparks of red, orange, and yellow that still decorate them, a bridge weathered with age. I can match those aspects of my life symbolically. The bare branches represent the emptiness that I feel, the winds of sorrow hitting me directly because nothing is there to soften the blow. The sparks of red, orange, and yellow that are left on some branches are the bittersweet memories that I get when I think about the great playmate and “man’s best friend” he was. Continue this through.
Step 5
Create extended metaphors so that you’re not talking openly about the event, yet rather hinting about it with symbols and imagery. Write in poetic form as sample shows:
The winds of sorrow blast through the branches of my body,
Searing through my heart, magnifying the emptiness I feel;
Nothing can soften the blow.
Whistling through the darkened trees,
The cries of nature merge with my own,
Where one begins and ends, no one can tell.
The sorrow, unending;
The emptiness, vast;
Struggling to wander through the paths
the leaves crunch beneath my feet,
deadening the sounds of the playful running
that I long to be able to do again.
Clouds, scattered and gray in the sky,
Suddenly part, streaming to touch the foliage that remains.
Sparks of autumn's glory create tears of memories that flood to my heart
Knowing that the joy I felt was unmatched
Yet now,
It's all a memory.
REQUIREMENTS:
15 line minimum. Use two literary devices. Title your poem (and don't use "The Nature of Life").
For this poetry activity, you will need at least one photograph in nature. Follow the steps below to complete the activity.
Step 1:
Think of a personal experience you or someone you know has been through, whether positive or negative. Think of life’s events like achievement of or failure to achieve goals, acceptance or rejection, personal connections and break-ups, enjoyment of your surroundings, a longing for simpler times, self-discovery, etc. List the specific event, and write details about it.
Step 2:
Next, write the myriad of emotions that accompanied that event. Be specific, and explain using words that carry more weight than sad, happy, excited, or shocked. Really get creative with your adjectives.
Step 3:
Now look at your photo of nature. Make a list of all of the colors in the photo, what time of day it is, what season, what is pictured, etc. Visually write about the details of your photo. These are the particulars of the photo that will help you create extended metaphors of your personal life experiences. Write the symbols next to those descriptions. For example, the color red symbolizes anger, misunderstanding, desire, energy, force, agression or love. The winter season usually signifies the end of life or an experience, the deadening of the spirit or heart.
Step 4
Link what emotion you felt to the color, season, or objects in the picture. Match your lists from Steps 1 and 2 to the colors and natural descriptions in Step 3. On your paper, write the emotion, and then explain how your description of nature is symbolically represented by the scene. For example, in Step 1, I listed the death of my family’s dog. In Step 2, I listed emotions like complete emptiness, void that cannot be replaced, and eternal sadness as well as a bittersweet memory when I hear a dog barking. In Step 3, my Autumn scene is described as lifeless trees, bare branches except for the few sparks of red, orange, and yellow that still decorate them, a bridge weathered with age. I can match those aspects of my life symbolically. The bare branches represent the emptiness that I feel, the winds of sorrow hitting me directly because nothing is there to soften the blow. The sparks of red, orange, and yellow that are left on some branches are the bittersweet memories that I get when I think about the great playmate and “man’s best friend” he was. Continue this through.
Step 5
Create extended metaphors so that you’re not talking openly about the event, yet rather hinting about it with symbols and imagery. Write in poetic form as sample shows:
The winds of sorrow blast through the branches of my body,
Searing through my heart, magnifying the emptiness I feel;
Nothing can soften the blow.
Whistling through the darkened trees,
The cries of nature merge with my own,
Where one begins and ends, no one can tell.
The sorrow, unending;
The emptiness, vast;
Struggling to wander through the paths
the leaves crunch beneath my feet,
deadening the sounds of the playful running
that I long to be able to do again.
Clouds, scattered and gray in the sky,
Suddenly part, streaming to touch the foliage that remains.
Sparks of autumn's glory create tears of memories that flood to my heart
Knowing that the joy I felt was unmatched
Yet now,
It's all a memory.
REQUIREMENTS:
15 line minimum. Use two literary devices. Title your poem (and don't use "The Nature of Life").
CREATING THE PHOTOSTORY